memory_alphafandomcom-20200223-history
Portal talk:Main/Archive 2006
This is the discussion for the Main Page. Here the layout and contents of the Main Page can be discussed, including the encyclopedia categories. Sombody hacked the main picture of quark before it became a featured article.... someone should fix it. See also: Talk page archive ---- Discussion of Main page elements Featured Pages "Did You Know" feature :See Template talk:DidYouKnow I suggest you add the information about Gargoyles to the front page for a while, it's a funny side-note in Trek history that a lot of the major actors happened to work on the same cartoon series. It's arguably the largest single migration of Trek people in history. "Latest Episodes" feature With Star Trek: Enterprise over, there won't be any new episodes for a while-- minimum of years, so that kinda renders this topic obsolete. I suggest it's removal, and replaced with a general "Star Trek News"-like thing. ie: In the immediate future, it could list the release dates of the special edition of Insurrection and Star Trek: Enterprise Season Two. -AJHalliwell 03:51, 7 Jun 2005 (UTC) :Well there are still re-runs for a while, not that those are kept track of here. But it sounds good to me (the change). And, oh boy, Insurrection will be released today! --Gvsualan 04:02, 7 Jun 2005 (UTC) :: The Director's/Special Edition I assume? — THOR 05:17, 7 Jun 2005 (UTC) :::Correct, a 2-disc SE.--Gvsualan 06:39, 7 Jun 2005 (UTC) ::::I agree to remove the "Latest episodes" features. One possibility would be to simple delete it, another one would be too rename it "Upcoming episodes" to include all sorts of reruns. What do you think? -- Cid Highwind 14:19, 21 Jul 2005 (UTC) Whomever implemented Mr. Highwind's suggestion forgot that The Next Generation is also airing. Makon 04:51, 22 Sep 2005 (UTC) "Popular Topics" feature What signification does this rubric contain? Let's remove it from the Main Page, which would in turn increase its lucidity. By the way, who decides what articles are the most popular ones? --BlueMars 11:15, Nov 19, 2004 (CET) : was th origin of this feature -- it measures hit count -- Captain Mike K. Barteltalk 17:25, 10 May 2005 (UTC) ::I agree with the removal suggestion. The Top Ten (as seen on the special page) would be relatively boring to include. Let's use that space for something else. -- Cid Highwind 14:22, 21 Jul 2005 (UTC) : I suggested a "Newest Articles" area that could replace this, but I also think that using a selection from the top 50 popular pages (excluding movies and series) would be okay for this. Logan 5 15:25, 8 Dec 2005 (UTC) : What the * is this? Popular topics? Remove this crappy feature! Punked 30 March 2006 "Unwritten Topics" feature Is the unwritten topics template on the mainpage really necessary? MA/en has more than 10000 articles, unwritten topics are mostly characters, who appear only in one episode or other not very important topics. I think it is better to take a stubs template on the mainpage, because there are a lot of short articles in the database. -- Batrox 14:10, 16 May 2005 (UTC) :I agree, but I think we should have both. Perhaps get rid of "Popular topics" if we need room--Dalen 17:18, 27 May 2005 (UTC) ::i object -- A simpler solution to maintain the spirit of the "Unwritten topics" section is to use it like we used to -- and not list more than one type of unwritten article in the template. listing an unwritten character, planet, actor or publication is possible -- there's no rule saying which unwriiten topics should be chosen. -- Captain Mike K. Barteltalk 06:13, 7 Jun 2005 (UTC) :::The "Unwritten Topics" feature (here and on "Recent Changes") tends to generate stubs mostly. I generally don't like it, but that's another discussion. What's the general opinion about that feature? Is it really necessary on the main page, or should it be (re-)moved? -- Cid Highwind 14:25, 21 Jul 2005 (UTC) :::Remove it/replace it with the stubs. --Porthos 20:55, 2 Sep 2005 (UTC) Another issue: Heart Attack is listed, but it is a written topic, complete with blue link and article. Article of the Week :See Template talk:ArticleOfTheWeek Encyclopedia Technology In Main Subject Divisions The following was placed in Ten Forward, but somebody archived before I got an answer -- how infuriating. A less mature person would use name calling at this point. Anyway here: --Captain Mike K. Barteltalk ;Excerpt from Memory Alpha archive :I noticed that you have a page called technology, which lists some forms. You have other pages that list things like: Military, Propulsion, and other types of specified tech. (under a diffrent heading which only covers some of the general divison) All the specified forms do not cover all topics. The remianing ones are on the page titled, "Technology", which can not be aceesed from the main page. Also, the heading "Science and Technology", does not have any tech under it. The label is incorrect. For oginization's sake, and for an easier way to move aroud MA, We could fix this problem by doing one of the following things: #Have one page called "Technology", with subdivisons under it. Rename "Science and tech" just Science. #Have diffrent areas of technology listed under what is now called the "Space Travel and hardware section", incldue the links from the current page, "Technology" and rename the catagory, "Technology" Then we can Rename "Science and tech" just Science. (unsigned) ::I think there's some value to this proposal, its something that has crossed my mind. -- Captain Mike K. Barteltalk 14:39, 27 Jun 2005 (UTC) Suggest a Category If anyone has any ideas for what kind of topics and categories we want to have on the front page, suggest them here! -- MinutiaeMan 07:37, 8 Dec 2003 (PST) I think a uniform catigory should be under either Races and Cultures or Government and Politics. -Philip ::If we are going to use wiki categories, I suggest we replace the links on the main page with Category:(title) links. -- Redge | ''Talk'' 15:58, 3 Sep 2004 (CEST) ::I'd like to suggest adding the List of arts and music under the "Society and Culture" header. -- EtaPiscium 06:23, 9 Sep 2004 (CEST) ::I think it'd be a good idea to have a list of space stations/planet-based installations under the "Space Travel and Hardware". Right now there's no centralized list for both Federation and alien fixed installations (specific names and classifications) like there is for starships, and finding them's pretty difficult. -- EtaPiscium 18:22, 9 Sep 2004 (CEST) ::I think Category:Starship classes should be added under Starships under the "Space Travel and Hardware" header --Dalen 16:01, 18 Mar 2005 (EST) Redge, that's a good idea to implement -- eventually. I think it would be better to have the categories established first and have them populated with material before we remove the old links. Otherwise we'd risk orphaning a whole lot of pages... EtaPiscium, that's a good idea. I'll add that myself right now. :-) -- Dan Carlson | Talk 13:20, Sep 9, 2004 (CEST) I suggest adding sensors under either "Space Travel and Hardware" or "Science and Technology". -- EtaPiscium 08:49, 23 Sep 2004 (CEST) Suggestions for new Main page elements Perhaps a picture of all the captains? I know it's a fan clichê, but it'd brighten up the page. Also, links to all the series and films under such a picture.Gul Reid 21:27, 21 Jul 2005 (UTC) Something like this: I don't know. Maybe, some images on the main page might really brighten up the page. --Memory 22:23, 30 Nov 2005 (UTC) Newest articles? How about an area for Newest Articles (excluding users and talk pages)? Logan 5 15:23, 8 Dec 2005 (UTC) :Might be a good feature, but is there some sort of template to automatically include the newest article at any given moment? Doing it manually obviously can't work. -- Cid Highwind 17:02, 8 Dec 2005 (UTC) Probably not one currently, but could it be created a la the Unwritten Topics template? Logan 5 14:52, 9 Dec 2005 (UTC) :Well, the "Unwritten topics" list needs to be changed manually as well. It's not a problem in that case, because it isn't much more than 1 change/day. However, "Newest articles" would need to be changed whenever a new article is written, which can't be done manually. The only realistical way to approach this would be an automatic template like , which should at any time be resolved to a link to the newest article. -- Cid Highwind 15:17, 9 Dec 2005 (UTC) ::No way to generate a template or list off of ? Logan 5 15:35, 9 Dec 2005 (UTC) :Not one I see at the moment, I'm afraid. The only clean way would be to request that feature from the MediaWiki-developers, then wait until it is implemented and MA updated. An ugly work-around would be to create a bot that reads the "Newpages" list and updates a template accordingly, but I would advise against it. I might be missing something, though - perhaps a variable like that already exists and is just not listed with the others on ? -- Cid Highwind 16:05, 9 Dec 2005 (UTC) Other notes and comments Popular pages The popular pages on the main page are different to the popular pages listed . How often is it updated? Excelsior 18:23, 13 Jun 2005 (UTC) :That's a manual selection, anything special you want to change? --Memory 20:58, 30 Nov 2005 (UTC) does no longer exist, so I suggest to remove this section, it's no longer to monitor. --Memory 21:53, 18 January 2006 (UTC) How often is the main page updated? It's been weeks since my regular visits and I'm still looking at Michael Dorn's face on the main page. Perhaps a weekly update would keep things fresher? Just a suggestion! --LancasterII, 23 February ::There is no set time for anything - if you want something done, feel free to take initiative. You can go to the talk page, and make a suggestion for an update, and it's likely it will be implemented. Jaz talk | novels 00:51, 24 February 2006 (UTC) Feedback Very intresting wiki site!... Thanx! --213.228.84.66 17:57, 15 Oct 2005 (UTC) White text on a black background? Most disturbing and off putting. Uncyclopedia parodies Memory Alpha Uncyclopedia's front page has been temporarily redecorated today to parody Memory Alpha. Congrats! Plus I started this. Live long ans prosper! --Nerd42 17:51, 22 Nov 2005 (UTC) *interesting... -- Captain Mike K. Barteltalk ::Isn't it though? --Nerd42 02:02, 25 Nov 2005 (UTC) Minor layout change The idea posted below was suggested to me by Vedek Dukat. The following was copied directly from what was posted at my talk page: ---- :I was gonna ask you to implement a minor change to the main page, but perhaps it would be better to get some sort of community input first? I don't know - it seems minor to me. Anyway, here's the thing: In the Encyclopedia area, we have "Other Features" and "The Fans" sections, the latter having only Trekkie in it. What about switching the two (so logically Other Features would be last, since it's... well, other stuff) and changing "The Fans" to "For Fun" or something similar, then adding the following to it: :*I'm a doctor, not a... :*Parodies :*47 :There was actually more I had in mind, but that's as far as I think we could go without needing input, votes, or whatever. What do you think? --Vedek Dukat Talk | Duty Roster 07:34, 29 Nov 2005 (UTC) ---- I have posted his idea here so as to gain community support before implementing any changes to the layout of the Main Page. Personally, I think it's a good idea, but I'll wait and see what everyone else thinks. --From Andoria with Love 08:08, 29 Nov 2005 (UTC) :This is a good idea, if for no other reason then because most people don't know that our little "extras" (especially the parodies page) exist. What I meant by the other changes was a covering of the fan films and such, because even the newly formed French Memory Alpha has more on that than we do. --Vedek Dukat Talk | Duty Roster 05:00, 30 Nov 2005 (UTC) ::I like the change, especially the fan films part, which is an area I've always wished MA would cover (it is after all about "everything related to Star Trek). And I am among those who did not know about the parodies page prior to reading this. Another great idea, Vedek! :) --Broik 16:06, 30 Nov 2005 (UTC) I would also like to see Memory Alpha:Babel mentioned somewhere, as I don't think most people know about it. Narco 18:25, 30 Nov 2005 (UTC) Support --Memory 20:58, 30 Nov 2005 (UTC) Support Sloan 21:01, 30 Nov 2005 (UTC) Suggested additions to main page * link to production timeline, **especially upcoming productions (possibly in conjunction with "latest DVDs" - -which could/should be "latest releases" so we can add new games, tapes, self-sealing stem-bolt merchandising, etc *maybe a "this month's birthdays kind of template", * link the subheadings: people, technology, etc.. to any articles which may be considered "top-level" in these cases. -- Captain Mike K. Barteltalk :Moved to bottom, I think we can implement this with the stuff from above. Btw: anyone noticed the overhaul of the German MA Main Page? --Memory 20:58, 30 Nov 2005 (UTC) ::Yes, it puts us to shame and is quite impressive. Sloan 21:00, 30 Nov 2005 (UTC) Main Page/temp What do you guys think of this? It's really uneven with the DVDs, Popular Topics, Unwritten Topics, AND Did You Knows all stacked against the AotW - normal Wikis only have a paragraph for the FA/AotW, but our layout would necessitate way too much. The other thing is the "Trek and Culture" part because a) the parodies page isn't really linked from many obvious places, b) the "Trekkies" link looked lonely, and c) we're expanding lately anyway, so why not let the trend continue. Weyoun 07:04, 8 Nov 2005 (UTC) — Weyouns version :Another thing to support (Hm, it's really time for a refit...) --Memory 21:16, 30 Nov 2005 (UTC) I think we need some way to integrate the Article of the Week into a panel-like area the way the German version, Wikipedia, Star Wars Wiki, etc. all do. I'm not sure how to go about this though. --Vedek Dukat Talk | Duty Roster 01:45, 1 Dec 2005 (UTC) — Vedeks version :I'm not sure how to do it either. Think the German MA folks'll feel like sharing? I also don't think we needed to move the Popular Topics and Unwritten Topics to the right side. Everything else, however, looks great! --From Andoria with Love 05:58, 1 Dec 2005 (UTC) Ok, Broik did another test, I tried to regard all suggestions from above, discuss it or try your own. --Memory 14:03, 1 Dec 2005 (UTC) :I think the pictures of each crew are a bit much in the current temp page. Also, we need to figure out a way to put the Trivia and Article of the Week sections in their own boxes. --From Andoria with Love 20:53, 1 Dec 2005 (UTC) ::If you really want to implement boxes that must be done for the whole page, otherwise it will be unbalanced. That's a big change - we need some more to second that. --Memory 21:25, 1 Dec 2005 (UTC) Changes & suggestion Does anybody have any thoughts or comments on the recent changes to the Main Page? I kinda like the way it looks myself, but that's just one little Andorian's opinion. :-P Anyway, I also have a suggestion should the "News and Updates" stay the way it is: I think we use this section not only for updates on DVD releases, but also for other news pertaining to Trek, such as news about new movies or TV shows, as well as deaths and marriages. I'm not sure yet how we would handle that, but that's why I'm putting it here to be discussed. :) --From Andoria with Love 21:14, 28 Dec 2005 (UTC) Collaboration of the Week I've posted this on Ten Forward as well. I think a big problem with MA right now is that while we are all willing a make little changes, nobody really wants to do the major work on something like an episode summary, or major event (ie Earth-Romulan War, and Babel Crisis) I think a partial sollution would be to create a Collaboration of Week on the main page. It would be the main focus, and after a week is replace with another major page needing attention. Jaz 02:30, 7 Jan 2006 (UTC) :I took the bait and overhauled the Earth-Romulan War. :) Aholland 22:48, 5 February 2006 (UTC) IRC alert It has been suggested to me by Matthew Fenton that we post an alert on the main page for a few days telling people about the new Memory Alpha IRC channel. Because the "chat" link is already in the navigation bar at the left, I don't feel this is particularly necessary, but others may find it useful. What do you guys think? --From Andoria with Love 19:48, 24 January 2006 (UTC) :Umm, if they don't notice the link on the navigation bar it seems unlikely that they'll notice this... Then again, I guess things on the nav bar do blend together sometimes. I don't know, it couldn't hurt. --Vedek Dukat Talk | Duty Roster 01:33, 26 January 2006 (UTC) Trek News I have a suggestion... since the "Did You Know" section has not been changed since Jesus Christ walked the Earth, and since they're just random bits of trivial info that we appear to be running out of, I thought maybe we could replace that template with one for news relating to Star Trek and those involved with the franchise. This would entail things such as upcoming Trek productions and events, releases for DVDs, books, and games, updates on what Trek cast and crew are doing, death notices, marriages, etc. What does everyone think about that? --From Andoria with Love 19:32, 31 January 2006 (UTC) :Definitely gets my support - remove "Did you Know", add something like "News", and perhaps merge that with the template for DVD releases while we're at it. Shran, perhaps you can already create that template and link it here to show everyone what might be the future content? -- Cid Highwind 19:40, 31 January 2006 (UTC) Example Here's an example of what this template might look like: What do ya'll think? (Go ahead and make any modifications you see fit to the layout). --From Andoria with Love 20:02, 31 January 2006 (UTC) *Looks excellent, and love the colors. I've been waiting awhile for the 'Did you Know' section to be updated, but this would be even better. It has my full Support. - Adm. Enzo Aquarius 20:19, 31 January 2006 (UTC) :*I agree about the colors, but as Cid pointed out on IRC, we need to find out some kind of color code to match the news items with (i.e. blue for cast/crew news, green for studio news, yellow for production news, black for death notices, red for marriages, etc.) The colors were Cid's idea, btw. ;) --From Andoria with Love 00:00, 1 February 2006 (UTC) Just a hint: we already have a news section on the mainpage, it's currently filled with outdated DVD releases (which should be removed completely). If you want to put the news on it, please use this section. I oppose to the removal of the Did You Knows, if we can't find someone to update them we should change the mode to a monthly rotation filled with the material of the archive, it's still interesting for new guests visiting the MA. --Memory 00:41, 3 February 2006 (UTC) This is a great idea so long as someone is willing to keep it up to date. I don't want this discussion to fade into obscurity - we need to either move the DYKs to the current "latest DVDs" section or put news in that section. It would seem like news comes before trivia, but at the same time, I think it's a lot easier to keep trivia updated than news. I might start the project Memory hinted at if I get time - I'm already planning a way to salvage the Did You Know process. --Vedek Dukat Talk | Duty Roster 20:08, 6 February 2006 (UTC) :If this is approved, I will certainly try my damndest to update it. Also, I would think that news takes prescedence over trivia, but that's just one little blue-skin's opinion. :P --From Andoria with Love 20:10, 7 February 2006 (UTC) Discussions? Should we add a link to important discussions on the main page (e.g. AoTW, Votes for featured articles, votes for deletion, etc.)? These would attract more people to these discussions and there may be more votes all in all. :) --Galaxy001 22:28, 4 February 2006 (UTC) :No. Most of these discussions require you be an active member for at least a week, so it's not really necessary. Jaz talk | novels 22:35, 4 February 2006 (UTC) ::So you think it would attract non-activists? That makes sense then... --Galaxy001 22:42, 4 February 2006 (UTC) :::We do have links to some things on the recent changes page, but I think people who are interested will find most pages relevant to them, e.g. AotW is linked to on MA:FA, which is linked to on the main page. There are a few pages, such as MA:CS, which are pretty obscure - but in the case of CS, I raised the issue on IRC a little while ago and now it's under "utilities" on the recent changes page. If there's anything you think should get more attention somehow, feel free to bring it up on Ten Forward or IRC. --Vedek Dukat Talk | Duty Roster 01:26, 5 February 2006 (UTC) Whopper 1 I think adding a question mark after Did you know would be best, its not a run on sentence, and it would be more organised. Whopper 00:16, 8 February 2006 (UTC) Shatner note I added a note about William Shatner's birthday, its formatted to be removed at the end of the day. -- Captain M.K.B. 15:23, 22 March 2006 (UTC) :Removed. -- Cid Highwind 09:15, 28 March 2006 (UTC) Fix Spanish lk I'd do it, but I can't edit the main page. Under the different language MAs, the Spanish link needs to be changed to http://memory-alpha.org/es/wiki/portada. -[[User:Platypus222|'Platypus Man']] | ''Talk'' 13:30, 27 March 2006 (UTC) :Those links can be edited via Template:International. However, there seems to be something wrong with the "es" prefix - we could add a direct link as suggested above for the moment, but I'm not sure if we should. -- Cid Highwind 09:16, 28 March 2006 (UTC) Banner announcements I think it might be time to adopt some sort of policy for the use of those banner announcements... condolences after the death of major actors/production personnel are okay, but I think recent ones might be going a little overboard... ;) -- SmokeDetector47( TALK ) 03:04, 31 March 2006 (UTC) :As my first official action, I concur. Besides deaths, since they're kind of sudden and implied, should a mini-vote be made? Policies though, definitly. (Hm, I wonder which recent ones you are speaking of?) (Thanks though blue skin) - AJ 03:12, 31 March 2006 (UTC) ::I think he's also referring to our inclusion of wishing William Shatner a happy 75th birthday, so it's not just me. :P Anyways, I guess banner announcements should only be used for deaths. (And you're welcome, pink skin. ;)) --From Andoria with Love 03:36, 31 March 2006 (UTC) :I was thinking things like birthdays, etc. would work quite well in a new box similar to what Shran proposed above, since the "Did You Know" box is not frequently updated and it's somewhat difficult to find appropriate ones and write them. Something like "Recent events" or "Current events" or "Star Trek birthdays" or "This day/week in Trek history" or something like that... as long as the community keeps it relatively up to date, that is. :) But I feel only messages that are important enough to be the first thing someone sees when visiting Memory Alpha should be death notices of major individuals or some other really, really important announcement like the upcoming 40th anniversary or the launch of a new series/movie. -- SmokeDetector47( TALK ) 03:58, 31 March 2006 (UTC)